[Wikimania-l] Wikimania 2012 Awarded to Washington, DC

[James Owen]

Dear all,

The Wikimania jury are pleased to announce that they have selected Washington, D.C., USA as the location for Wikimania 2012[0]. The DC team presented an imaginative and exciting bid[1] that the jurors found impressive. As before, all the bids to host Wikimania had strong points in their favour and making this decision was difficult. We will send detailed feedback to each of the bids, but for now we know the winning team will appreciate the community's support and help in making a great Wikimania in 2012. The jury particularly thanks the other finalist in the process, the South African team[2] for their excellent work, and encourages them to bid again in the near future.

If you have never been to a Wikimania before I would urge you to consider attending. This year the conference will be in Haifa, Israel[3], and promises to be an excellent event. Wikimania is always a great way to meet members of our global community and help improve the movement, and Washington DC looks to be a worthy successor.

Our congratulations to the Washington DC team and many thanks to all of the bidders for working so hard. I encourage all bidders to use the fantastic energy they have put into their bids by hosting smaller continental or regional events, and considering another bid for Wikimania in the future.

The jury welcomes looks forward to discussing the result and the Wikimania process with the community.

[0] Jury, process&  timeline:http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2012
[1] DC bid:http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2012/Bids/Washington,_D.C.
[2] SA bid: http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2012/Bids/Stellenbosch
[3] Wikimania 2011:http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimania_2011

Yours,

The Wikimania 2012 jury moderators [non-voting]
* James Forrester
* Joseph Seddon

On behalf of the Wikimania 2012 jury:
* Ting Chen
* Austin Hair
* Richard Knipel
* Deror Lin
* Patricio Lorente
* Abbas Mahmoud
* Takashi Ota
* James Owen
* Achal Prabhala
* Liam Wyatt

* Phoebe Ayers [non-voting advisor]
* Sue Gardner [non-voting advisor]
* Samuel Klein [non-voting advisor]
* Delphine Menard [non-voting advisor]